https://www.timesofisrael.com/no-lo...srael-takes-gloves-off-against-irgc-in-syria/
A man checks the damage in an apartment in a residential buildling that was reportedly targeted by Israeli air strikes in the Kafr Sousa district of the Syrian capital Damascus on February 21, 2024. (LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
Israel’s years-long air campaign against Iran-linked groups and weapons in Syria appears to have shifted into high gear in recent months, with strikes on high-value targets at a pace that is “changing the rules of the game,” according to experts.
Although Israeli attacks on Iran-sponsored weapons transfers and Tehran-backed militias, including Hezbollah, go back to at least 2013, the air force is now unleashing more frequent operations that include assassinations of Iranian officials. Those on the ground have taken notice.
In just the last few days, Israeli jets hit two members of the Hezbollah terror group traveling in a truck near the Syrian-Lebanon border Sunday morning, and bombed a residential building in an upscale neighborhood of the Syrian capital Damascus frequented by leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, killing two people, according to local news sources. Tehran’s media sources claimed that no citizens of the Islamic Republic were killed.
“[Israeli airstrikes in Syria] are no longer just about attacking weapons transfer or attacking Damascus international airport,” said Carmit Valensi, a senior researcher on Syria and head of the northern arena program at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).
The uptick in attacks seemingly started sometime shortly after October 7, as Israel found itself fighting in Gaza and fending off attacks from Iran-backed groups from Lebanon, Syria and beyond.
A man checks the damage in an apartment in a residential buildling that was reportedly targeted by Israeli air strikes in the Kafr Sousa district of the Syrian capital Damascus on February 21, 2024. (LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
Israel’s years-long air campaign against Iran-linked groups and weapons in Syria appears to have shifted into high gear in recent months, with strikes on high-value targets at a pace that is “changing the rules of the game,” according to experts.
Although Israeli attacks on Iran-sponsored weapons transfers and Tehran-backed militias, including Hezbollah, go back to at least 2013, the air force is now unleashing more frequent operations that include assassinations of Iranian officials. Those on the ground have taken notice.
In just the last few days, Israeli jets hit two members of the Hezbollah terror group traveling in a truck near the Syrian-Lebanon border Sunday morning, and bombed a residential building in an upscale neighborhood of the Syrian capital Damascus frequented by leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, killing two people, according to local news sources. Tehran’s media sources claimed that no citizens of the Islamic Republic were killed.
“[Israeli airstrikes in Syria] are no longer just about attacking weapons transfer or attacking Damascus international airport,” said Carmit Valensi, a senior researcher on Syria and head of the northern arena program at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).
The uptick in attacks seemingly started sometime shortly after October 7, as Israel found itself fighting in Gaza and fending off attacks from Iran-backed groups from Lebanon, Syria and beyond.
